Skip to main content
Log in

Anger in Young Black and White Workers: Effects of Job Control, Dissatisfaction, and Support

  • Published:
Journal of Behavioral Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This cross-sectional study tested the hypothesis that characteristics of work that contribute to job strain also increase anger in young service-sector workers. A new measure of anger directed at coworkers, supervisors, and customers was regressed on job strain indices (job control, coworker and supervisor support, dissatisfaction) in models that controlled for dispositional negative affect and work status. Results in a sample of 230 young Black and White men and women revealed that low levels of job control and social support, and high levels of job dissatisfaction, were independently associated with increased work-related anger. Moreover, social support moderated the impact of low job control on anger directed at coworkers. Findings indicate that anger experienced at work may be an early marker of job stress, which has been prospectively related to cardiovascular disease.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Beck, A. T. (1999). Prisoners of Hate: The Cognitive Basis of Anger, Hostility, and Violence, Harper Collins, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beckett, L. A., Rosner, A. F., and Guo, S. (1992). Serial changes in blood pressure from adolescence into adulthood. American Journal of Epidemiology. 135(10): 1166–1177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berenson, G. S., Wattigney, W. A., and Tracy, R. E. (1992). Atherosclerosis of the arota and coronary arteries and cardiovascular risk factors in persons aged 6 and 30 years and studied at necropsy (The Bogalusa Study). Am. J. Cardio. 70: 851–858.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang, P. P., Ford, D. E., Meoni, L. A., Wang, N. Y., and Klag, M. J. (2002). Anger in young men and subsequent premature cardiovascular disease. Arch. Intern. Med. 162: 901–906.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J., and Cohen, P. (1983). Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analyses for the Behavioral Sciences, 2nd ed., Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Everson, S. A., Goldberg, D. E., Kaplan, G. A., Julkunen, J., and Salonen, J. T. (1998). Anger expression and incident hypertension. Psychosom. Med. 60: 730–735.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewart, C. K., Jorgensen, R. S., Suchday, S., Chen, E., Matthews, K. A., and Frankowski, J. J. (2002). Measuring stress resilience and coping in vulnerable youth: The social competence interview. Psychol. Assess. 14: 339–352.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewart, C. K., and Kolodner, K. B. (1991). Social competence interview for assessing physiological reactivity in adolescents. Psychosom. Med. 53: 289–304.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewart, C. K., and Kolodner, K. B. (1992). Diminished pulse pressure response to psychological stress: Early precursor of essential hypertension? Psychosom. Med. 54: 436–446.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewart, C. K., and Kolodner, K. B. (1993). Predicting ambulatory blood pressure during school: Effectiveness of social and nonsocial reactivity tasks in black and white adolescents. Psychophysiology 30: 30–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewart, C. K., and Kolodner, K. B. (1994). Negative affect, gender, and expressive style predict elevated ambulatory blood pressure in adolescents. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 66: 596–605.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewart, C. K., and Suchday, S. (2002). Discovering how urban poverty and violence affect health: Development and validation of neighborhood stress index. Health Psychology May; 21(3): 254–262.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frese, M. (1999). Social support as a moderator of the relationship between work stressors and psychological dysfunctioning: A longitudinal study with objective measures. J. Occup. Health Psychol. 4: 179–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerhart, B. (1987). How important are dispositional factors as determinants of job satisfaction? Implications for job design and other personnel programs. J. Appl. Psychol. 72: 366–373.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammar, N., Alfredsson, L., and Johnson, J. V. (1998). Job strain, social support at work, and incidence of myocardial infarction. Occup. Environ. Med. 55: 548–553.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling, University of California Press, Los Angeles.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurrell, J. J. (1987). An overview of organizational stress and health. Chapter 2, pp. 31–45. In Stress Management in the Work Setting. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jamner, L. D., Shapiro, D., and Goldstein, I. B. (1991). Ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate in paramedics: Effects of cynical hostility and defensiveness. Psychosom. Med. 53: 393–406.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jamner, L. D., Shapiro, D., Hui, K. K., Oakley, M. E., and Lovett, M. (1993). Hostility and differences between clinic, self-determined, and ambulatory blood pressure. Psychosom. Med. 55: 203–211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, E. H., Schork, N. J., and Spielberger, C. D. (1987). Emotional and familial determinants of elevated blood pressure in black and white adolescent females. Psychosom. Res. 31: 731–741.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, J. V., Stewart, W., Hall, E. M., Fredlund, P., and Theorell, T. (1996). Combined effects of job strain and social isolation on cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality in a random sample of Swedish male population. Am. J. Public Health 86: 324–331.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A., and Larsen, R. J. (2001). Dispositional affect and job satisfaction: A review and theoretical extension. Organ. Behav. Hum. Decision Process. 86(1): 67–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karasek, R. (1979). Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental strain: Implications for job redesign. Adm. Sc. Quart. 24: 285–307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karasek, R., Brisson, C., Kawakami, N., Houtman, I., Bongers, P., and Amick, B. (1998). The job content questionnaire (JCQ): An instrument for internationally comparative assessments of psychosocial job characteristics. J. Occup. Health Psychol. 3: 322–355.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karasek, R., Gordon, G., Pietrokovsky, C., Frese, M., and Pieper, C. (1986). Job Content Instrument: Questionnaire and User's Guide, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karasek, R., and Theorell, T. (1990). Healthy Work: Stress, Productivity and the Reconstruction of Working Life, Basic Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kasl, S. V. (1998). The influence of the work environment on cardiovascular health: A historical, conceptual, and methodological perspective. J. Occup. Health Psychol. 1: 42–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, S., and Wooding, J. (1994). The changing structure of work in the United States: Part I-The impact on income and benefits. New Solutions Winter 43–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Locke, E. A. (1969). What's job satisfaction? Organ. Behav. Hum. Perform. 4: 309–336.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leidner, R. (1993). Fast food, Fast talk: Service work and the Routinization of Everyday Life, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leidner, R. (1999). Emotional labor in service work. Ann. Am. Acad. Pol. Soc. Sc. 561: 81–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marmot, M., Bosma, H., Hemingway, H., Brunner, E., and Stansfield, S. (1997). Contribution of job control and the other risk factors to social variations in coronary heart disease incidence. Lancet 350: 235–239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marmot, M., Siegrist, J., Theorell, T., and Feeney, A. (1999). Health and the psychosocial environment at work. In Marmot, M., and Wilsinson, R. G. (Eds.), Social Determinants of Health, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 105–131.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marmot, M., and Wilkinson, R. G. (Eds.). (1999). Social Determinants of Health. Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marmot, M. G., Davey Smith, G., Stansfeld, S., Patel, C., North, F., Head, J., White, I., Brunner, E., and Feeney, A. (1991). Health inequalities among British civil servants: The Whitehall II Study. Lancet 337: 1387–1393.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matthews, K., Gump, B. B., Block, D. R., and Allen, M. T. (1997). Does background stress heighten or dampen children's cardiovascular responses to acute stress? Psychosom. Med. 59: 488–496.

    Google Scholar 

  • Melamed, S. (1996). Emotional reactivity, defensiveness, and ambulatory cardiovascular response at work. Psychosom. Med. 58: 500–507.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, J. A., and Feldman, D. C. (1997). Managing emotions in the workplace. J. Managerial Issues 9: 257–274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muntaner, C., Eaton, W. M., Garrison, R. (1993). Dimensions of the psychosocial work environment in a sample of the US metropolitan population. Work and Stress 7(4), 351–363.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, M. J., Ragland, D. R., and Symc, L. (1992). Longitudinal prediction of adult blood pressure from Juvenile blood pressure levels. American Journal of Epidemiolgy, 136: 633–645.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickering, T. G., Devereux, R. B., James, G. D., Gerin, W., Landsbergis, P., Schnall, P. L., and Schwartz, J. E. (1996). Environmental influences on blood pressure and the role of job strain. J. Hypert. (Suppl, 14) S179–S185.

  • Pope, M. K., and Smith, T. W. (1991). Cortisol excretion in high and low cynically hostile men. Psychosom. Med. 53: 386–392.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schnall, P. L., Lansbergis, P. A., and Baker, D. (1994). Job strain and cardiovascular disease. Annu. Rev. Public Health 15: 381–411.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, J. E., Pickering, T. G., and Landsbergis, P. A. (1996). Work-related stress and blood pressure: Current theoretical models and considerations from a behavioral medicine perspective. J. Occupa. Health Psychol. 1: 287–310.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, J. M. (1984). Anger and cardiovascular risk in adolescents. Health Psychol. 3: 293–313.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, T. W. (1992). Hostility and health: Current status of a psychosomatic hypothesis. Health Psychol. 11: 139–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stern, D., Stone, J. R., Hopkins, C., and McMillion, M. (1990). Quality of students' work experience and orientation toward work. Youth and Society 22: 263–282.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suls, J., and Wan, C. (1993). The relationship between trait hostility and cardiovascular reactivity: A quantitative review and analysis. Psychophysiology 30: 353–358.

    Google Scholar 

  • Task Force on Blood Pressure Control in Children (1987). Report of the second task force on blood pressure control in children—1987. Pediatrics 79: 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Testa, M. R. (2001). Organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and effort in the service environment. J. Psychol. 135(2): 226–236.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, C. B. (1977). Habits of Nervous Tension: Clues to the Human Condition. Precursors Study, Baltimore, MD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vermeulen, M., and Mustard, C. (2000). Gender differences in job strain, social support at work, and psychological distress. J. Occup. Health Psychol. 5: 428–440.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., Clark, L. A., and Tellegen, A. (1989). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. J. Pers. Soc. Psych. 54(6): 1063–1070.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., and Pennebaker, J. W. (1989). Health complaints, stress and distress: Exploring the central role of negative affectivity. Psych. Rev. 96: 234–254.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sheila T. Fitzgerald.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fitzgerald, S.T., Haythornthwaite, J.A., Suchday, S. et al. Anger in Young Black and White Workers: Effects of Job Control, Dissatisfaction, and Support. J Behav Med 26, 283–296 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024228026022

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024228026022

Navigation